Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum has continued to air his views against the controversial tax bill promoted by President Bola Tinubu's regime stressing that only Lagos and Rivers states, stand the chance of benefitting from the bills if its being passed into law. The bill, which is currently being considered by the National Assembly covers the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024 -SB.583; The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) BILL, 2024- SB.584; The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024-SB.585; and the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 – SB.586.
In October, President Tinubu asked the National Assembly to assent to pass the bills into law.
While speaking as a guest on Channels Television programme 'Sunday Politics', Zulum, who said neither himself nor any Northern governor was against President Bola Tinubu over the Executive Bills, however, noted that they were only craving for dialogue and adequate consultation about the proposed legislations in order not to be short-changed.
"On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law. Based on the calculations that we did, only Lagos and Rivers States will benefit from this scheme. We did our own research and conclude that we would lose,: Zulum said.
“Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause, and expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to not only Northern Nigeria.
“What we are saying is that give more time, let us do a deeper consultation to understand the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law.”
Governor Zulum explained that if the bill scales through the National Assembly, states would be shortchanged as only Lagos state would be the main beneficiary of the policy.
He argued that contrary to some insinuations in some quarters, the northern governors are not against President Tinubu's administration.
Zulum recalled that before the 2023 general election, he was one of the few governors that insisted that power must be rotated to the south.
According to him, the north cannot be against Tinubu as over 60 per cent of his votes in the 2023 general elections came from the region.
He regretted that some people were passing a negative narrative that the north is against Tinubu's government.
